Carrabassett Valley Fire Chief Courtney Knapp gives a presentation before a selectmen’s meeting recently. (David Hart photo) CARRABASSETT VALLEY –- Fire chief Courtney Knapp demonstrated the latest teaching and training tool for his and other departments and town residents prior to the Monday, March 22 selectman’s meeting.

Through funds left over from a Federal Emergency Management Agency Fire Act Grant, the chief purchased a $2,500 white board. The total grant was for $116,000 and the majority was used to buy various fire apparatus, Knapp explained.

The town’s newest technology is installed at the town office in the community meeting room.

The white board hanging on the wall, brand name Smartboard, appears as a 77-inch diagonal screen version of a computer monitor. The screen is a touch sensitive board. The board can be connected to anyone’s laptop computer and the laptop tied into the Smartboard.

Touching the board sends information to the laptop, which digitally processes that information. A device that writes and draws on the screen can also be used; the Smartboard then digitally records the onscreen writing onto the computer’s hard drive.

“The possibilities are endless,” Knapp explained. PowerPoint presentations, spreadsheets and other software can be displayed to anyone in the room.

“The reason for me is obvious. It’s a training tool for the fire department for training videos, for demonstrations and for diagramming,” Knapp said. “There are many potential uses that I’m not even aware of yet,” he said.

Other groups in town that want to use this piece of equipment with their own laptop, need only about five minutes of training to bring them up to speed, he said.

As another example, Knapp said, anyone with live television through their Internet, for example a Sunday football game, could show it on the wide screen to everyone in the room.

The selectmen thanked Knapp for his work on the project and for the training and demonstration.